Hallucinations

ravenclawseekergirl

Hi everyone! At the moment it seems like i'm the only one who has hallucinations here, but i thought that i should talk about it a little. I think at the moment it is one of the biggest hurdles that i have in weightloss. There's that and the fact that a number of you have been really brave and talked about your personal experiences. I have both auditory and visual hallucinations (there are other types which include feeling, tasting and smelling things that aren't there) most of the time these are combined, but i can have experiences where it's one or the other. At the moment it's almost all the time and so very distracting. It's hard to do things at times, either because there are so many different people talking to you at the same time, that other noises are overstimulating and at times painful. Many of the people are very friendly others not so. When i'm overstimulated i take to comfort eating which considering that it is occuring more often is not helping. Earlier in year i managed to lose 35 pounds but that was only due to the fact that i switched to self harming. Now i'm pretty much back at square one.

If anyone has any ideas for distractions i would be grateful.
I apologise if i havent made much sense, i have problems getting my words in the right order sometimes.

mvilla2426

Have you ever considered that these may be spirits and not hallucinations?? Thinking of it that way may help. I see animals much in the same way, but usually they are pets of people. Regardless of what you consider the hallucinations to be... I highly suggest Dialectal Behavior Therapy. DBT is really for people with Borderline Personality Disorder (which I have) and people with addictions, BUT it is really, really helpful and may help distract you. It will also help with the self harm too. (I self injured for ten years)

Some people call it Don't Bother Trying, but it just takes practice. And you don't necessarily have to go to a therapist (although that is how I got mine). Look up Marsha Linehan or DBT or Dialectal Behavior Therapy online, and you'll find techniques you can try at home.

ravenclawseekergirl

My problem at the moment stems from the fact that when this stuff is happening i get overstimulated and i end up with blanks where i dont know what i'm doing. When the more malevolant people turn up i turn into a ball of anxiety. I'll look that up... problem i have is that i live in the UK and have just moved from the childrens mental health service to the adults. Finally being talked to like an equal is nice. It's weird how at seventeen i was old enough legally to have children, get married and be able to see a doctor without them passing the information to my parents, but they would talk to me like i was four. :huh: Complete change of who i'm seeing which is great. I suppose i'm going to have to wait it out. *is currently undiagnosed*

On another note, i find it really interesting to hear about other people's experiences. Thank you for sharing your ideas with me:flowerforyou:

calliope_music

are you asking more for distractions from the hallucinations, self-harming, or overeating? i was a bit confused as to what you were asking however, i am also in a cold medicine haze...

ravenclawseekergirl

the first two

Hambone23

I'm so sorry your symptoms present that way. I have nothing close to your experience with hallucinations, but when I used to go to bed, I had this party chat line in my head while I was trying to fall asleep. I could actually hear individual conversations. Sometimes I could pick out a voice I knew. Others were in different languages. There were only two times an oily voice came through and scared the hell out of me. I also had this guy Michael talking to me for a while in my head. I haven't had that since going on meds. When I was on Risperdal, I think it's called, I stopped at a stop light and saw a black shadow figure of a man in a broad brim hat and a cape that dissolved into ravens behind him cross the street. That freaked me out. I stopped that med. Often times I find that I see things out of my peripheral vision. And there are times when the whole world I'm looking at suddenly shifts two feet to the left.

These are all so odd to me. I don't know how you deal with clearly worse hallucinations. Since mine aren't as debilitating or distracting, I don't really know what to say, except that other people do have them--to varying degrees. I'm sorry you have to deal with such intense ones. Are you in the process of finding an "adult" psychiatrist who might help with meds?

ravenclawseekergirl

Thanks for telling your story even though we had very different experiences, it's nice to know that your not alone.
In the area of the Uk where i live we have a great NHS Psychosis team and i'm in touch with them. I see a social worker once a week for counselling which is doing wonders. They dont want to put me on meds for it because they think that it's mostly down to stress. Anyway i'm getting an Autism test as i practically tick all the boxes for it and not being diagnosed is probably causing the stress. Once i get back into a routine things usually get better.

There are a few meds that i have to be careful about to i was on Diclofenac of Sodium for my joint pain and the side affects were horrible. I literally had no idea where i was and what was going on. Recently i also learned that Predisnarone screws with me to. One of the listed side affects is hallucinations...so i have to take half the dose that the doctors in A+E prescribe but over a longer period of time.

Sorry for 'talking' your ear off there.

calliope_music

has your social worker given you any suggestions for coping skills? i work with kids with mental health/behavioral issues and one of the things i have them do for me is make a list of coping skills they use. here are some of my favorites (some of the ones they suggest are pretty out there, haha)

read a book
call a friend/go visit a friend
play a video game or board game
lots of deep breaths/positive self talk ("this isn't real", etc)
exercise
dance to your favorite music
do something crafty

obviously i don't know your history or what you've tried, but i also have tried some of these things and they've helped me, albeit i don't have hallucinations. good luck and keep up updated!

KickingDarkness

ravenclaw. I'm diagnosed schizophrenic. I don't have hallucinations as bad as you my illness mostly presents as delusions, but I have had hallucinations in the past and can attest that they are very difficult to live with. I understand where you're coming from saying that stress makes it worse - I'm the same way. I find it strange however that your doctors aren't giving you medication as that has the potential to help you out.

hambone, that's funny that you mention seeing things in your periferal vision and having the room shift on you - I have both of those things.

sarah_ep

I do not have hallucinations but I do suffer from excessive and highly structured daydreaming. It is involved and I have lost copious amounts of time as a result. I cannot listen to music at work since can be a trigger into these dreams. When it comes to symptoms it is important to know your triggers and then you can troubleshoot to find preventative behavior.

ravenclawseekergirl

Thank you to everyone that has replied to my post.
About the medication side of things, they did offer me some, but i refused to have it. I find it very hard to take any kind of medication regularly and that kind of stuff you have to take regularly or it doesn't work. So there would be no point in me taking it. They obviously would rather that i did both (talking and meds) but aren't going to pressure me into taking it, unless it becomes much much worse and i'm putting myself or others in danger by not doing so. As it would be likely to scare me off.

*sigh* We are at the moment making a list of all the stressful things that have happened to me recently and the ways that i've coped with them, good and bad. I also have to keep a diary of the things i do, my hallucinations and how i feel, because i have trouble remembering exactly what went on and identifying emotions.

Am now waiting to see whether my GP (family doctor) will fund an autism test. These notoriously take a very long time to happen especially for anyone over 16.